Barclays is the first major UK high street bank to offer free WiFi to its customers in branches nationwide, to help its mobile banking drive.

The new WiFi service, built by BT, is being rolled-out across 1,500 of Barclays branches across the UK.

Barclays said customers using the service would be able to download its mobile banking apps, including cash transfer app Pingit, access its main websites faster than using 3G, as well as third party sites.

Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, said: “We’ve been listening to our customers about how we can make banking easier for them, and they tell us they like the idea of mobile banking but would often value being shown how it works."

He added: "Our front line staff say WiFi will help them give product demos using our customers own mobiles and tablets. We hope by providing this free service our customers will be able to instantly download and use all our mobile apps."

BT has already installed the networks in more than half of the 1,500 branches. The remaining branches will be connected by the end of March.

The "white label" service is visible to the public as "BarclaysFreeWifi" and users only have to click to accept terms and conditions to get access.

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story, and in case of transmission error. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.

Login

Not a member yet?

Register for a Computerworld UK Account and enjoy unlimited access to our extensive white paper library and exclusive Enterprise multi-user software trials. Account members can also comment on articles and access best practices guides.Register